Pomp and circumstance: Kansas State University commencement ceremonies May 7, 13 and 14

Monday, May 2, 2016

The university mace is carried as part of the May 2015 commencement processional for the Graduate School at Kansas State University.This year's university commencement ceremonies will be May 7, 13 and 14. | Download this photo.

MANHATTAN — It's graduation time for around 3,000 Kansas State University students. Commencement ceremonies will be Saturday, May 7, at Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus in Salina, and Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14, on the Manhattan campus.

The 2016 graduates are part of the 149th class to graduate from Kansas State University.

Commencement speakers will include the university's head football coach, an infectious disease expert, an aviation CEO and a former Kansas Farm Bureau CEO.

Degrees to be awarded include 2,800 bachelor's, more than 460 master's, nearly 90 doctorates, 115 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and 10 associate. More than 240 students are earning degrees through K-State Global campus distance degree programs.

Ceremonies start at Kansas State Polytechnic in Salina at 10 a.m. May 7 in the Student Life Center. Scott Ernest, president and CEO of Textron Aviation, will be the speaker.

Graduate degrees will be award on the Manhattan campus May 13. The Graduate School ceremony will be at 1 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Kansas State University alumnus Guy H. Palmer will receive a honorary doctorate at the ceremony and serve as commencement speaker. Palmer is Regents professor of pathology and infectious diseases and senior director, global health, at Washington State University. Representing the Kansas Board of Regents at the ceremony will be Zoe Newton, Sedan. Commencement for the College of Veterinary Medicine will be at 3:30 p.m. in McCain Auditorium. The speaker will be Bill Snyder, head football coach at Kansas State University.

On May 14, undergraduate colleges on the Manhattan campus will award degrees. The following is the schedule of ceremonies and speakers:

• College of Arts & Sciences, 8:30 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum. The speaker will be Wayne Goins, university distinguished professor and director of jazz studies at Kansas State University.

• College of Architecture, Planning & Design, 10 a.m., McCain Auditorium. The speaker is Kansas State University landscape architecture alumnus Robert Coffey, co-founder of The Gordian Group, the leading provider of construction cost analytics, estimating information, pricing data, and procurement software and services.

• College of Education, 11 a.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Commencement speaker is Dan Yunk, a Kansas State University alumnus who is now a professor and executive director of the Kansas Educational Leadership Institute at the university. Yunk also is the former CEO of Kansas Farm Bureau and former superintendent of USD 383, the Manhattan-Ogden School District.

• College of Business Administration, 12:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Kansas State University alumna Audrey E. Mross, senior partner leading the labor and employment section at Munck Wilson Mandella law firm, will present the commencement address.

• College of Agriculture, 2:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. The commencement address will be given by Robert "Bob" Broeckelman, a Kansas State University alumnus and retired Farm Credit administrator.

• College of Engineering, 6:30 p.m., Bramlage Coliseum. Sue Barsamian, a Kansas State University alumna with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she serves as senior vice present and general manager, HPE Security Products, will be the commencement speaker.

DVDs of the ceremonies may be ordered through the K-State Campus Store at 800-KSU-CATS or 785-532-6583.

The university's Army and Air Force ROTC units will have commissioning ceremonies at 10 a.m. May 13 in Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union.